Metallica skis? Why not?! Ski manufacturer Armada has teamed up with the band for an exclusive Metallica line of skis. Said the band, “It’s no secret that three quarters of the band enjoy our snow sports ([guitarist] Kirk [Hammett] is sticking to the water for now!) so we’re excited to announce that we have hooked up with Armada to create a line of Metallica skis for you to cruise around the mountains on.” Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait till September of this year to pick them up. Hitting retail will be the Invictus 95Ti all mountain ski and the JJ 2.0 powder ski, plus a Hans windbreaker jacket and Decker Gloves, all featuring art inspired by Metallica’s Master Of Puppets.

So…what’s up next for Van Halen? Tokyo Dome Live In Concert, that’s what! It’s the band’s first-ever live album featuring singer David Lee Roth, being released June 21. Beyond that…the future is unclear. When Rolling Stone asked band co-founder/guitar maestro Eddie Van Halen about upcoming plans, he replied, “I’d love to make a studio record. Depends on everybody’s timing. I don’t know what Dave Lee Roth is up to now. I don’t know if he’s living in New York or Japan or wherever he is.” See a brand new interview with Eddie on the HOH website.

Megadeth bassist David Ellefson was recently asked by former RIP magazine editor Lonn Friend if he’d ever been able to tell the artists who’d inspired him the role they’d played in his career. Said David, “I told [ex-Van Halen bassist] Michael Anthony that. [It’s] not just his bass on those [classic VH] records. His vocals… his singing. When [Megadeth] were writing ‘Peace Sells’, and at the end, [sings] ‘Peace sells, but who’s…’, I immediately go, [sings higher] ‘Peace sells, but who’s buying.’ I immediately go for that… I call it the ‘Michael Anthony harmony.’ ‘We’ve gotta get the ‘Michael Anthony harmony’ in here.’ So, anytime I’m on a bandstand and there’s a vocal, I’m, like, ‘I’ll take the Michael Anthony part.’ So he’s, like, defined in my book as a… basically, he’s an instrumentation. So I got to tell him that. And he’s very humble. But it’s always nice to tell people who changed your life, to let them know what they did.”

And, just announced: the Dark Roots Of Thrash II tour featuring thrash legends Testament and Exodus. Also heading out on the road: ex-G N’ R guitarist Slash and his band, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus was recently asked by Canadian rock journalist Mitch Lafon about the band’s reputation for lateness when taking the stage. “He [frontman Axl Rose] is the real deal. And he lives it, and, like I said, all he cares about is the music. For the longest time, when I first started with the band even, I thought it was by design. I thought, ‘He has this worked out.’ ‘Cause, you know, it’s two hours after we’re supposed to start, three hours… and people are… stadiums full of people just booing. And the second he’d walk out on stage, all that energy, all that… on the verge of chaos, of just imploding and everyone just rioting, right at that moment he walks out on stage, and all of that negative energy just goes totally up right into the palm of his hand. I mean, it’s phenomenal to watch. And I thought it was by design; I thought that he had figured out some type of way to judge the moment, but it’s not. [Laughs] It’s not. It’s just…that’s just what he is…it’s not like he’s sitting back watching TV and eating potato chips. Man, he goes through a lot to walk out on stage. Just everything… with being himself… to get into the right place within himself.” (thanks to Blabbermouth.net for the transcription).

Whitesnake has just released a teaser video for what’s expected to be a new studio album due sometime this spring (with a tour to follow). Details are out next week…but check out the video now.

Guitar shredder Chris Impellitteri’s new studio album is called Venom; it’s out April 21 in North America.

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